Mastodawn

Davydh Trethewey Jan 3

Finn 🔜 #EF30

Just found out that apparently a lemon isn't naturally occurring in nature.
It's a hybrid by crossbreeding a bitter orange and a citron!

Do you know what that means?!
Do you know what implications this has?!!

LIFE NEVER GAVE US LEMONS
WE INVENTED THEM ALL BY OURSELVES

maelstrom Dec 13

#same-is-true-for-corn-and-most-farm-animals-btw!!

@maelstrom Maize as we know it now is the product of thousands of years of cultivation, as are most produce (known as 'cultivars'), but nearly all are cultivated from wild strains. If you let maize grow on its own for long enough, it eventually reverts back to the grass it started as. The same is true for dogs, by the way.

Hedgewizard 🐈Dec 13

@wesdym @maelstrom
My cat is actually doing this at the moment, in the kitchen. He doesn't know I am watching him

Damon L. Wakes Dec 14

@Hedgewizard @wesdym @maelstrom You're watching your cat revert back into grass???

Hedgewizard 🐈Dec 14

baconandcoconut Dec 16

@Hedgewizard @wesdym @maelstrom Your cat is inventing lemons? I have so many questions.

donutage (Bill Cole)Dec 13

@wesdym @maelstrom I had an archaeologist friend who always called (cultivated) maize a “genetic monstrosity”.

punIssuer Dec 14

@donutage @wesdym @maelstrom i guess it's not only the plants...
https://www.popsci.com/science/why-are-turkeys-so-big/

How did Thanksgiving turkeys get so darn big?

Generations of selective breeding have made the 'bird of courage' unable to fly or mate on its own.

Popular Science

@donutage It's certainly come a long way from its teosinte origins, that's true.

punIssuer Dec 14

@wesdym @maelstrom now I'm trying to imagine a re-wilded Chihuahua-Wolf...

@wesdym @maelstrom It is.

LiquidParasyte Dec 13

#All-we-need-to-do-is-make-them-combustible #and-then-throw-them-at #....our-house????

@liquidparasyte
They actually ARE combustible, or at least the fluid in the rinds is. Citrus evolved to produce volatiles, to discourage pests, and you can light it on fire (not too easily). Peel-flaming is an advanced mixology technique; ask your bartender about it.

@finn Aurora already taught me that

https://chaos.social/@scy/115460381067751586

schuelermine Dec 13

@scy @finn why does she look exactly like my first cousin once removed but fifty years younger

@scy It's one of those cute "special knowledge" things that people are drawn to, but it's really not. Citrus can and does hybridize on its own. No one actually knows how lemons originated, and we probably never will. We only know approximately when and where they were first written about, that we know of. (We've also lost the vast bulk of ancient knowledge and writing, and that's just too bad.)

bluestarultor Dec 14

@wesdym @scy Yeah, they date back to at least ancient Rome.

Grapefruit, on the other hand, was accidentally invented in modern times in Barbados, and the fact we know where and when they decided to spring up is so cool IMO!

@bluestarultor Yeah, grapefruit is fascinating for that reason. It's also pretty much the only reason that Florida is what it is now.

Iirc, we know about the hybridization because of the genes, and we know about the time frame because of lots and lots of gene samples.

But ymmv.

Benjamin Braatz Dec 13

@scy @finn Was mildly annoyed by the recycling of a viral post from over a year ago. Did a bit of digging and found that it is not even true: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lemons-manmade-not-natural/

Lemons Are 'Manmade' Hybrid Fruits That 'Don't Occur Naturally'?

"Life never gave us lemons, we created them ourselves," numerous social media users claimed.

Snopes

@HeptaSean Thank you for doing the research, updated my post.

baconandcoconut Dec 16

@scy @HeptaSean Huh, so people didn't invent lemons, we just cultivated them and made them ubiquitous.

@HeptaSean @scy @finn Aw, Cave Johnson would be so disappointed

@finn The implications for all those times life has given people lemons and they have made lemonade should not be underestimated.

rk: it’s hyphen-minus actually Dec 13

This is a more apropos analogy than I’d like to admit.

Bryan L. Fordham Dec 13

@finn the lemons are coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE!

Not a Spring Onion Dec 13

@finn Be the lemon in your enemies' eyes.

Mx. Eddie R Dec 13

@finn
When life gives you lemons, know that somebody worked hard to make that happen.

GreenSkyOverMe (Monika)Dec 13

@finn le gasp!

Maximilian Overdraft, Esq.Dec 13

Damn breeders.

@finn Soooo the classic quote should be...

"When humanity gives you lemons, don't make lemonade! Make humanity take the lemons back! Get mad!"

Mark Dominus Dec 13

Marcos Dione Dec 13

@finn and oranges a mix of pomelo and mandarin orange!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_(fruit)

Orange (fruit) - Wikipedia

dragonfrog Dec 13

@finn almost all the citrus fruit we eat is a hybrid - if it's not a pomelo, tangerine, or citron, it's a hybrid of two or three of those original wild citruses. Even some of the "tangerines" and "pomelos" we buy are hybrids that have some genetics from one of the other two.

Third spruce tree on the left Dec 13

@finn all I know is you need six lemons to upgrade your chicken in Arc Raiders.

chicating Dec 13

@finn Lemonade, too, then. All the posters that will need to be rewritten, now.

@finn That doesn't mean it's not naturally occurring. We know that citrus can hybridize on its own, and there are several examples. Most are older than any recorded history, so no one really knows. 'True' lemons are attested as far back as 1c BCE in Northern India, but no one knows their actual origin. We know that they COULD have occurred naturally.

@finn 🤯

Chipotle Axolotl (aka Julian)Dec 13

@finn whoooooooaaaaaaah

aslynn is autistic actually Dec 13

@finn 🫢

Pinecone🌲Party Dec 13

@finn that's deep, man

none gender with left politics Dec 13

@finn @lion agriculture has done many terrifying things. Citruses and brassicas are but two examples. Gourds, beans, peppers...the list goes on

@finn but what if life gives you kumquats?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5AjSGrZbxw

Mr. Muckle

YouTube

Sun Microdevil Pte Ltd Dec 14

@finn I am gonna need a lot of lemons

Melroy van den Berg Dec 14

@finn not just lemon mate.
Did you know we created much more?

Like oranges, broccoli, tomatoes, grapefruit, bananas, iceberg lettuce, orange carrots, cucumbers, corn, watermelon, peneuts, cauliflower, apples.. And I can continue forever here...

Edit: yes even strawberry and bell peppers are created by humans.

mage_of_dragons Dec 14

@finn I'M GONNA GET MY ENGINEERS TO INVENT A LEMON

De_Minimis Dec 14

@finn When life gives you lemons

run

life didn't give you that lemon /j

@finn
This is too profound for my liking.

@finn reminds me of the bananas thing - there was a Christian anti-evolutionist who made a video some years back about how bananas were "the atheist's nightmare" because they were perfectly designed - easy to open, portable, biodegradable packaging etc

Except if he'd done even the most basic research he would have learned that bananas are selectively bred by humans - they're not natural or "designed by god" at all

llewelly Dec 14

@finn "we"? Lemons originated nearly 2 millenia ago. I wasn't even born then, and neither was anyone I've personally known.

@finn make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what the hell am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager!

פְּרִי Dec 15

@finn when life gives you citrons, bread a lemon.

not quite the same ring.

How about when live gives you citrons, grab some leaves and shake it every direction?

Ericka Simone Dec 17

@finn humans creating their own sour problems? Sounds familiar.

🇪🇷Götterdämmerung Dec 17

@finn n other words, every motivational poster is a lie, every platitude counterfeit & optimism is a genetically modified delusion.

We did not adapt to life. We corrected it. And poorly.

@finn that seems fitting since we as a species also made most of our own problems! We made the lemons ourselves, then we bitched and moaned about having to make the lemonade.

Escape plan Dec 27

Honestly I think that makes the saying more meaningful, like all the biggest problems in the world were invented by humans

wait. I though lemon was citron in English. What's the difference ???

Alex, the Hearth Fire Jan 3

@finn when life gives you bitter oranges, make lemons